What do you see being the team's greatest weakness in 2015?

[kenneje]

He's come a long way even just this year in terms of his speaking ability.

The interview after the game with Dermott was great. Very clear, confident and able to sum up exactly what he thought. If not captain, I'd be very confident of him being a part of the leadership group.

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

A horrendous bad run of injuries. A reasonable run can be covered.
Port Adelaide the only danger, particularly now they have Ryder. Not sure how many games he may miss because of ASADA issue, but will probably be there for the finals.

Yep this is our biggest problem.

If we lost senior players like Mitchell and Gibson for 10+ weeks we will struggle to win any games.

Imagine if Cyril only plays a handful of games for the season.

Perhaps Lake struggles with calf injuries and when he does finally get back gets suspended for 4 weeks. That would be a disaster.

Just try to imagine a season where Lake, Gibson and Stratton only play a handful of games together, doubt we would win a game.

But out of all this I think the worst thing that could happen would be to lose Clarko for any period of time during the season. The club functions solely on his say so, we should try to develop systems that deal with his absence.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Name me one club that would be able to cover their #1 forward going down better than us.

That's not the point I was making. A long term injury to Rough would hurt us, I stand by that. Last season (and yes other injuries were about at the time) without him we lost to Port and lost to Freo. Not saying he's the only reason we lost - but it highlights how important he is to our structure up front.

 

[dcutter]

Definitely our midfield for me, odd in a certain sense in the way we dismantled sydney in the GF.

There were games this year in which we simply couldn't get our hands on it in the middle, the first quarter of the prelim against port a glaring reminder.

Seem to lack a premium mid of sorts in the ilk of ablett, watson, selwood, fyfe. What we lack in quality, however, we seem to make up with sheer quantity and the numbers we can throw through the midfield. No other team has this kind of versatility. Always a great ace up our sleeve.

In saying that, there seems to be plenty of organic improvement to be had in the middle. Langford gets another pre season under his belt. Whitecross, anderson back in business. Woodward gets his chance, Lewis now in elite category.

The recruitment of o'rourke could be extremely significant, hopefully in '15, but certainly in years to come if the hawthorn stable can turn this one into the group 1 champion some say he has the potential to be.

Like someone previously stated, we break even here for the majority of the year, I can't see us not finishing top 2

 

[crazywildhorse]

O'Rourke - Fingers crossed on his footballing potential but makes Buddy sound like Noam Chomsky when he speaks. Not a leader.

Pretty much the best post I've read in weeks.

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

That's not the point I was making. A long term injury to Rough would hurt us, I stand by that. Last season (and yes other injuries were about at the time) without him we lost to Port and lost to Freo. Not saying he's the only reason we lost - but it highlights how important he is to our structure up front.

Definitely is but we do have coverage for him. We did lose him for some pretty crucial games in 2014.

I just don't think the club could really do much more to protect themselves in this area than they already have.

At the end of the day luck does come into it. $wans were at 100% full strength all finals series and didn't make one change for all 3 finals yet got embarrassed by 63 points.

 

[becalm]

Yep this is our biggest problem.

If we lost senior players like Mitchell and Gibson for 10+ weeks we will struggle to win any games.

Imagine if Cyril only plays a handful of games for the season.

Perhaps Lake struggles with calf injuries and when he does finally get back gets suspended for 4 weeks. That would be a disaster.

Just try to imagine a season where Lake, Gibson and Stratton only play a handful of games together, doubt we would win a game.

But out of all this I think the worst thing that could happen would be to lose Clarko for any period of time during the season. The club functions solely on his say so, we should try to develop systems that deal with his absence.

I'll pay this.

 

[Footy 1st]

Biggest weakness would be if the media didn't write us off...but they'll stay true & say "the Hawks have nothing left in the tank".
Our older guys will be managed well

 

[ScoobySnacks]

Burgoyne - for me the real worry is here - why? Because I think he's the least replaceable. Mitchell gets his disposals, Hodge has his aura but Burgoyne has something different. An ability to play just about any role from small forward to small back pocket, to in the middle. But it's more - his ability to make the right decision in the most difficult circumstances and to execute that and have the presence of mind to think further down the passage of play and be there too. For the past two years he has been the crucial player for me - make no mistake in 2013 we are no more than preliminary finalists without his cool head and clutch goals. Can he keep playing to that level??? that's the big question. also if he goes down with an injury then we could be in real trouble.

This.

Possibly the most underated star of the whole playing group.

 

[walhawk]

We have no weakness compared to our competitors.
They have all been covered.
I have never been more confident going into a season.

 

[killerspud]

Lewis is definitely the player in the next age group down that offers up some of what these guys offer but after that we still have unprovens who need to show us what they've got. The candidates for me are:
O'Rourke - Fingers crossed on his footballing potential but makes Buddy sound like Noam Chomsky when he speaks. Not a leader.

Am I missing anyone?

One of the posts of the year - pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen Noam Chomsky referred to in any context in a Big Footy post - bravissimo Sir

 

[seysearles]

One of the posts of the year - pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen Noam Chomsky referred to in any context in a Big Footy post - bravissimo Sir

 

[Jason Dunstall]

I think Mitchell's injury last year was a godsend in terms of his longevity - I think he got the sustained break he needed and was just getting to peak levels around the finals. I think we'll manage him very carefully.

Hodge - for all the brilliant things he does on the football field I think his main weapon is his leadership aura. He makes other players better, he makes opponents worry just by his presence. So long as he is able to get on the park when it matters he will be good.

Burgoyne - for me the real worry is here - why? Because I think he's the least replaceable. Mitchell gets his disposals, Hodge has his aura but Burgoyne has something different. An ability to play just about any role from small forward to small back pocket, to in the middle. But it's more - his ability to make the right decision in the most difficult circumstances and to execute that and have the presence of mind to think further down the passage of play and be there too. For the past two years he has been the crucial player for me - make no mistake in 2013 we are no more than preliminary finalists without his cool head and clutch goals. Can he keep playing to that level??? that's the big question. also if he goes down with an injury then we could be in real trouble.


Having said all this Jordan Lewis has gone from ok player to absolute elite. Langford just has to do what he did in the last month this year for an entire year and he joins him. Hill and Smith are the best run and carry wingmen in the comp and then there's the likes of Shiels, Puopolo, Simpkin and Suckling all premiership players and extremely capable - along with Woodward, Whitecross, Anderson and Sicily who will be breaking down the door to be part of it.

Finally don't forget Breust can always join that midfield group, Gunston has the tank to run up and down a wing and Rioli did very very little for most of the year.

so to answer the OP - complacency is the only thing that can stop us as we definitely still have the best list in the competition that has only really been added to this year.

No disrespect to our other playing greats, but this is what we would miss.

Class.

Silky, great decision making, class.

Burgoyne, Pendlebury, Cotchin etc; you just don't find that sort of class under rocks these days.

Burgs said after the final that his knees were good & that he was happy to go forward, which is great news because we have NOTHING like him coming through.

Speed, size, skills, decision making......

I believe his nick name says it all.

Silk.....

 

[driftyhunter]

Name me one club that would be able to cover their #1 forward going down better than us.

$hiteney. If Tippett goes down they hardly miss his one effort leaps

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Off the OPs list I ticked the accumulation of older players, but what I really think is the biggest threat is other teams working out how to beat us. We will be relying on Clarko to reinvent our game plan yet again and come up with some tactics to bamboozle to the opposition. If he can do this I have no doubt we have the personnel to carry out his plans, older players notwithstanding (we have plenty of good soldiers in reserve as was proved this year). The three-peat is on!!!

 

[Thaihawk]

It's all in the hands of our architects. If Clarko and a few of his colleagues are absent for an extended period, then we could be in a bit of bother.

I believe we have the players at the club for another flag. It's the twigging of our game plan that will decide our success.

I'm sure our team will be just as focused as this year.

 

[H2F]

Lake comes in and we win premierships both years.

He would have to be the most under-rated player of all time.

His contribution in finals is incredible. If he can somehow manage to fire one more time in the Grand Final and we do a three-peat. What a superstar!

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Lake comes in and we win premierships both years.

He would have to be the most under-rated player of all time.

His contribution in finals is incredible. If he can somehow manage to fire one more time in the Grand Final and we do a three-peat. What a superstar!

Liked, but mainly for your new username, ROFL

 

[TazHawk15]

We have no weakness compared to our competitors.
They have all been covered.
I have never been more confident going into a season.

This.

We know we have depth.

Port and COLA had a very very good run with injuries this year but any injuries of note will see their lack of depth exposed.

Take out COLA or Ports Gibson,Lake,Cyril,Sammy,Clarko and see how they would go.

 

[tommyk72]

Where's the option for tall backs?

It's totally possible that Lake, Frawley, Gibson, Schoenmakers, Spangher and Stratton all get injured.

About bloody time we got the chance to blood Heatherly.

 

[MrPremiership]

Our weakness is if Roughy goes down. We don't really have a replacement for a mobile power forward. Gunner is a different type of player, and we only have part timers or swing men (Schoe, Spangher)...O'Brien just isn't ready yet.

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

$hiteney. If Tippett goes down they hardly miss his one effort leaps

Tippett is their #1 forward?

More like their #1 spud

 

[Arkadia]

Keeping the old brigade fresh and firing come finals time. Some of the injuries to our stars this year were a godsend from that point of view.

I cannot wait to see Anderson, Woodward and Whitecross mixing it up in the middle next year, if we can do three in a row I can live with a rebuild in the following years.

 

[killerspud]

View attachment 90659

View attachment 90660

Well I stand corrected - who would've thunk it.

 

[killerspud]

No disrespect to our other playing greats, but this is what we would miss.

Class.

Silky, great decision making, class.

Burgoyne, Pendlebury, Cotchin etc; you just don't find that sort of class under rocks these days.

Burgs said after the final that his knees were good & that he was happy to go forward, which is great news because we have NOTHING like him coming through.

Speed, size, skills, decision making......

I believe his nick name says it all.

Silk.....

It's a way off - but in can see Brad Hill in another five years with 150 games under his belt starting to have that class under pressure thing (he has the best mentor in the game to learn off in Silk)